“I am exploring it,” Edwards told The Republican and MassLive.com. “I have been making the rounds, talking to people, looking at who to build the necessary collaborations with, getting the lay of the land in trying to figure out whether it makes sense.”

Edwards is a four-term selectman in the small town of Whately in Franklin County. In 2002, he helped found and became vice president of SmartPower, a non-profit marketing firm dedicated to promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency. He has since left to start his own marketing and communications firm, Pioneering Strategies. He has chaired the Whately town Democratic Party, but has never run for state office. “I don’t consider specific positions as being a litmus test for statewide office,” Edwards said.

Whately selectman Jonathan EdwardsCourtesy Jonathan Edwards

Edwards considers himself a disciple of the late Massachusetts Senator and 1992 Democratic presidential candidate Paul Tsongas. He says he is a “pro-business Tsongas Democrat who’s also pro-environment.”

As lieutenant governor, Edwards said he wants to build collaborations with local governments and take a regional approach toward delivering services and promoting economic development. He envisions a system in which towns work with other towns to serve an entire region. For example, Edwards said he recently led an effort to regionalize ambulance services in Whately, Deerfield and Sunderland.

The most important issues to him are creating good paying jobs and protecting the environment. Edwards said he expects to make a decision “pretty soon” about whether to run.